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19 2007

Consumer Protection Act 2007

Chapter 2

Civil Proceedings

Civil relief by way of prohibition orders.

71 .— (1) In this section “prohibited act or practice” does not include a contravention of section 59 (2) (respecting weighing facilities in grocery retail) or section 60 (1) (respecting preventing the reading of prices).

(2) Any person, including the Agency or any other public body that is prescribed for the purposes of this subsection, may apply to the Circuit Court or High Court for an order prohibiting a trader or person from committing or engaging in a prohibited act or practice.

(3) An application under subsection (2) shall be on notice to—

(a) the trader or person against whom the order is sought, and

(b) the Agency, if the applicant is not the Agency.

(4) In determining an application under this section, the court shall consider all interests involved and, in particular, the public interest.

(5) If the applicant for an order under this section is not the Agency, the court may not make the order unless the Agency has been afforded an opportunity to be heard and adduce evidence.

(6) If the court considers it necessary or appropriate in the circumstances, taking into account all interests involved and, in particular, the public interest, the court may make an order under this section without proof of any actual loss or damage or of any intention or negligence on the part of the trader.

(7) In making an order under this section, the court may impose terms or conditions in the order that the court considers appropriate, including a requirement that the trader or person publish a corrective statement, at the trader’s or person’s own expense and in any manner the court considers appropriate, in respect of the matters the subject of the order.

(8) An application under this section to the Circuit Court shall be made to the judge of the Circuit Court for the circuit in which the prohibited act or practice concerned is being committed or engaged in.

(9) The Circuit Court shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine an application under this section which it is satisfied it is appropriate for it to deal with as a court of local and limited jurisdiction and, for the purpose of the court’s satisfying itself of that matter, the matters to which it shall have regard include—

(a) the nature and extent of the prohibited act or practice concerned, and

(b) the estimated cost of complying with the order to which the application relates.

(10) If, in relation to an application under this section to the Circuit Court, that court becomes of the opinion, during the hearing of the application, that it is not appropriate for the Circuit Court to deal with the application, it may, if it so thinks fit, transfer the application to the High Court.

(11) Subsection (10) is without prejudice to the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court to determine an application under this section which, at the time of the making of the application, it was satisfied it had jurisdiction to deal with.

(12) Where an application is transferred under subsection (10) to the High Court, the High Court shall be deemed to have made any order of a procedural nature that was made by the court from which it is so transferred in the proceedings in relation to the application.

(13) A trader commits an offence who, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with an order under this section and is liable on conviction on indictment or on summary conviction, as the case may be, to the fines and penalties provided in Chapter 4 .

Prohibition orders against code owners.

72 .— (1) In this section, “ code owner ” means, in relation to a code of practice, any person responsible for formulating or revising the code or for monitoring compliance by those traders who agree, commit or undertake to abide or be bound by it.

(2) If a code of practice or its code owner promotes any prohibited act or practice, the Agency may apply to the Circuit Court or High Court for an order prohibiting the code owner from such promotion or requiring the code owner to withdraw the code or amend it as the court considers necessary to prevent such promotion.

(3) An application under subsection (2) shall be on notice to the code owner.

(4) In determining an application under this section, the court shall consider all interests involved and, in particular, the public interest.

(5) In making an order under subsection (2), the court may impose terms or conditions in the order that the court considers appropriate.

(6) Subsections (8) to (12) of section 71 apply to an application under this section as they apply to an application under that section with the following modifications—

(a) the substitution in subsection (8) of “in which the code owner is promoting the prohibited act or practice concerned or in which the code owner resides or carries on any business or profession” for “in which the prohibited act or practice concerned is being committed or engaged in”, and

(b) the substitution in subsection (9) of the following paragraph for paragraph (a):

“(a) the nature and extent of the prohibited act or practice being promoted by the code of practice concerned or its code owner,”.

(7) A code owner commits an offence who, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with an order under this section and is liable on conviction on indictment or on summary conviction, as the case may be, to the fines and penalties provided in Chapter 4 .

Undertakings with the Agency.

73 .— (1) In this section “ prohibited act or practice ” does not include a contravention of section 59 (2) (respecting weighing facilities in grocery retail) or section 60 (1) (respecting preventing the reading of prices).

(2) If the Agency has reason to believe that a trader—

(a) is committing or engaging in a prohibited act or practice,

(b) is about to commit or engage in a prohibited act or practice, or

(c) has committed or engaged in a prohibited act or practice,

the Agency may accept from the trader a written undertaking that is signed by the trader in the form and which contains the terms and conditions the Agency determines are appropriate in the circumstances.

(3) If the Agency accepts an undertaking from a trader under this section, the Agency shall publish the undertaking, or cause it to be published, in any form or manner the Agency considers appropriate.

(4) Without limiting subsection (2), the undertaking may include one or more of the following terms and conditions:

(a) an undertaking to comply with the provision or provisions concerned of this Act or regulations under this Act;

(b) an undertaking to refrain from committing or engaging in any act or practice;

(c) an undertaking to compensate consumers or a class of consumers, including reimbursing any money or returning any other property or thing received from consumers in connection with a consumer transaction;

(d) an undertaking to publish or cause to be published, at the trader’s expense, an advertisement containing a corrective statement relating to the prohibited act or practice.

(5) If the trader under subsection (2) is a body corporate, the undertaking shall be signed by a director, manager, secretary or other officer of the trader.

(6) The Agency may terminate proceeding against a trader under section 71 (respecting civil relief by way of prohibition orders) on the acceptance of an undertaking from the trader.

(7) Despite subsection (6), the Agency may apply for an order against a trader under section 71 if the trader fails to comply with the terms and conditions of an undertaking under this section.

(8) Subsections (2) to (5) shall, with the following modifications and any other necessary modifications, apply in respect of any trader the Agency has reason to believe is contravening, is about to contravene or has contravened an enactment specified in Schedule 4 , namely, the modifications that—

(a) references in those subsections to a prohibited act or practice shall be read as references to a contravention of an enactment specified in that Schedule, and

(b) the reference in subsection (4)(a) to the provision or provisions concerned of this Act or regulations under this Act shall be read as a reference to the provision or provisions concerned of that enactment.

(9) If compensation is paid to a consumer pursuant to an undertaking referred to in subsection (4)(c) and the consumer subsequently commences an action under section 74 and is awarded damages by the court in respect of the same prohibited act or practice, the compensation paid under the undertaking is deemed to be in satisfaction of so much of the awarded damages as is equal to the amount paid to the consumer under that undertaking.

Consumer's right of action for damages.

74 .— (1) In this section, “prohibited act or practice” does not include—

(a) a misleading commercial practice described in section 45 , or

(b) a contravention of section 65 (1) (respecting pyramid promotional schemes).

(2) A consumer who is aggrieved by a prohibited act or practice shall have a right of action for relief by way of damages, including exemplary damages, against the following:

(a) any trader who commits or engages in the prohibited act or practice;

(b) if such trader is a body corporate, any director, manager, secretary or other officer of the trader, or a person who purported to act in any such capacity, who authorised or consented to the doing of the act or the engaging in of the practice.

(3) Subject to subsection (4), an action under this section may be brought in the District Court, the Circuit Court or the High Court and such a court may, in that action, award such damages as the court considers appropriate, including exemplary damages.

(4) If the action is brought in the District Court or the Circuit Court, any relief by way of damages, including exemplary damages, shall not, except by consent of the necessary parties in such form as may be provided for by rules of court, be in excess of the limit of jurisdiction of the District Court or the Circuit Court, as the case may be, in an action founded on tort.

(5) Where in an action under this section it is proved that the act or practice complained of was done or engaged in by a body corporate it shall be presumed, until the contrary is proved, that each (if any) director of the body and person employed by it whose duties included making decisions that, to a significant extent, could have affected the management of the body, and any other person who purported to act in any such capacity at the material time, consented to the doing of that act or the engaging in of that practice.